News and Events => Political and Legal News => Topic started by: Shana A on February 22, 2014, 01:55:44 PM Return to Full Version
Title: The Courage of Transgender Soldiers
Post by: Shana A on February 22, 2014, 01:55:44 PM
Post by: Shana A on February 22, 2014, 01:55:44 PM
The Courage of Transgender Soldiers
FEB. 21, 2014
Julia Baird
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/opinion/sunday/baird-the-courage-of-trans-soldiers.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/opinion/sunday/baird-the-courage-of-trans-soldiers.html)
SYDNEY, Australia — IT was 2 a.m., just a few days before Christmas, in a remote part of Afghanistan. Eight hours into a 16-hour shift, Ryan, a 23-year-old American naval sailor, was standing tense and alert, watching the footage of soldiers undertaking a nearby mission on a screen in front of him.
Suddenly, a hand clapped onto his back. Wheeling around to look at the face of his senior officer, Ryan knew the moment he had feared had come: His superiors had found out that his enlisted paperwork described him as female. Within three hours, he was on a plane.
Ryan, who is now stationed on a base in the United States awaiting a potential discharge, recently described that day to me. Ryan is the name his mother would have given him if he had been identified as male at birth. He does not want to reveal his real name because his case is being processed by the military.
While the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" in 2011 meant gays and lesbians could serve openly in the American military, transgender people still cannot, because the military defines gender nonconformity as a psychological disorder. So transgender soldiers serve in silence, facing dismissal if exposed.
FEB. 21, 2014
Julia Baird
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/opinion/sunday/baird-the-courage-of-trans-soldiers.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/22/opinion/sunday/baird-the-courage-of-trans-soldiers.html)
SYDNEY, Australia — IT was 2 a.m., just a few days before Christmas, in a remote part of Afghanistan. Eight hours into a 16-hour shift, Ryan, a 23-year-old American naval sailor, was standing tense and alert, watching the footage of soldiers undertaking a nearby mission on a screen in front of him.
Suddenly, a hand clapped onto his back. Wheeling around to look at the face of his senior officer, Ryan knew the moment he had feared had come: His superiors had found out that his enlisted paperwork described him as female. Within three hours, he was on a plane.
Ryan, who is now stationed on a base in the United States awaiting a potential discharge, recently described that day to me. Ryan is the name his mother would have given him if he had been identified as male at birth. He does not want to reveal his real name because his case is being processed by the military.
While the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" in 2011 meant gays and lesbians could serve openly in the American military, transgender people still cannot, because the military defines gender nonconformity as a psychological disorder. So transgender soldiers serve in silence, facing dismissal if exposed.
Title: Re: The Courage of Transgender Soldiers
Post by: Jill F on February 22, 2014, 04:36:41 PM
Post by: Jill F on February 22, 2014, 04:36:41 PM
I don't understand this policy at all. If you want to put your ass on the line for this country, more power to you. It shouldn't matter if you are LGBT or not. Now I wonder how intersex people are supposed to serve.
I know one MTF who went to Iraq three times, not caring if she lived or died. She told herself that if she survived the third one, she would transition. She got hurt pretty badly, got a discharge, came home and transitioned against her wife's wishes. Then her wife left her and took the kids.
What do good soldiers and transfolk have in common? Fearlessness. The military are fools for rejecting us.
I know one MTF who went to Iraq three times, not caring if she lived or died. She told herself that if she survived the third one, she would transition. She got hurt pretty badly, got a discharge, came home and transitioned against her wife's wishes. Then her wife left her and took the kids.
What do good soldiers and transfolk have in common? Fearlessness. The military are fools for rejecting us.